Television system having reduced transmission bandwidth



R. E. GRAHAM Feb. 17, 1953 TELEVISION SYSTEM HAVING REDUCED TRANSMISSION BANDWIDTH 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed DeC. 50, 1949 Quai 35m,

/N VEN TOR R. E. GRAHAM Feb. 17, 1953 R. E. GRAHAM 2,629,011

TELEVISION SYSTEM HAVING REDUCED TRANSMISSION BANDWIDTH Filed Deo. 30, 1949 2 SHEETS- SHEET 2 CCARSE /MACE PHOTO.. SSECTOR 4/ SUBJECT EM/sS/o/y APERTURE v r L.. -/r/ CoARsE s/CNAL F/NE /MAGE DISSECTOR 47 49 APE R7' URE \72 F /NE APER TURE -74 ANNULAR 1- MUL 7`/PL /ER 78 L /7a COLLECTOR /N VEN TOR R. E. GRAHAM ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 17, 1953 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE TELEVISIGN SYSTEM HAVING REDUCED TRANS-MIS SIGN BANDW-IDTH Application December Si), 1949, Serial No. 136,107

i Claims. l

rFhis invention relatesto the translation, transmission, reception, and reproduction of electric communication signals, particularly television signals and the like.

The principal 'object of the invention is to eifect a .substantial reductionin the Width oi the freouency-band required for the transmission of uch signals as compared with the band Width recured when the transmission 'is eiiected `by the apparatus and in accordance with methods con manly in use.

in a copending application of the present inventor, Serial No. 136,105, nled December 30, 194e, there is disclosed a system for the reduction of the transmission band Width of television image signals in which the reduction is achieved by discarding a major portion of the :ine detail video information. Incccordance with the present invention and in furtherance of its broad object, a further reduction in transmission band is achieved by the systematic vnon-utilisation of a portion of the availabie coarse video information. This is done byreducing the number of scanning lines per frame in the coarse image dissector of a ydual camera tube arrangezoent similar to that described in the copending apciication. This procedure vrequires an additional storage operation at the receiving point in order to alter the lcoarsesignal to the proper nicer of lines. The additional saving in band vir-th afforded by ythis invention is obviously ina different direction from that of the band width reduction scheme .disclosed in the copending application.

The invention will be more fully understood oy' referring to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, in which:

l is an overall block diagram of an exempiary arrangement of a reduced band width tele/ision system which operates in accordance with the invention;

2 shows anillustrative image dissector tube arrangement which can be used in the practice of the invention to separate from each other the coarse and fine detail components of the video information; l

Fig. 3 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of the iine component'image dissector' tube, also in accordance with the-invention; and

Fig. 4 shows still another illustrative arrangement of image dissector tube which can be used in the practice of the invention.

' in accordance with the exemplary embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. l, the television image is separated at the transmitting end into coarse and nne elds `or .Signals by .the use ci special scanning apertures (in camera tubes il and l2), which are discussed more fully below in connection with Figs. 2 and 3. .By this `rneans, the coarse-fine separation can be effected 1n all.

directions equally, rather than solely alongtthe scanning direction, which is the situation when electrical lters are used. as .separating media in accordance with one aspect of the coper'uiingA Since the vertical height of lthe application. coarse scanning aperture (in camera tube l i, the coarse image dissector) may' bemany times the conventional scanning-.line pitch, it is possible to use a coarser scanning'line structure, i. e., fewer total lines in the coarse dissector ltube raster,V without deterioration oi the quality of the in'1age.

It is this reduction in the number of scanning lines which, as mentioned above, effects the iurther frequency band .economy of the present irlvention.

At the transmitting end I0, sweep circuit i3 for the coarse image dissector i l is controlled by a local synchronization generator i6, in accord.-

ance with usual electronic techniques. Sin'iilarly,A

sweep circuit I4 for the ine image dissector i is controlled by a local synchrmization generator El. The scan for the ncoarse dissertor is at a in ar-` mal frame rate of n frames per second (preferably interlaced, according to R. standards) but at a reduced scanning `linejrate oi N1 lines per frame. The sweeprates for the line image which are Vgenerated in accordance with standard television practice, are mixed with the coarse and nne signals before transmission. The circuits in for convenience and simplicity of exposition, under `the designation video preparing and whichthese operationsoccurhave been subsumed,

transmitting equipmentV and vare 4so identified Vasl elements i8 and I9 of vFig. l. The :ciruits of ,elcment i8 operate on the coarse signal from thecoarse dissector and the circuits of element it on the fine signal from the tine dissector and the differential amplifier I5 (the'iunction of which' informing 'the ne Sgnalis discussed .more fully below) .n the receiving end 20 of the system, 1the:

coarse signal passes through a. delaying means 2i where it is delayed by about secondstomatch the' average time .delay in the iine signal due to its lower frame repetition rate.

(That this is .the proper Vamount .of delay `is' readily demonstrable.) Then both coarse and iine signals are stored at sweep rates controlled by their self-contained synchronization signals. A synchronization signal stripper circuit 22, of a type well known in the electronic art, strips the synchronizing signals from the coarse signal and these synchronizing signals control a sweep circuit 24, which thus causes the recording beam of a storage tube 21 to sweep at the coarse signal rate of n frames per second and N1 lines per frame. Similarly, synchronization signal stripper circuit 23 controls a sweep circuit 26 which causes the recording beam of a storage tube 28 to sweep at the fine signal rate of n1 frames per second and N lines per frame.

A local synchronizing Asignal generator 32, which operates in accordance with ordinary television practice, controls sweep circuits 29 and 3 l, which cause identical sweep rates of the pickup beams of both the ne signal storage tube 28 and the coarse signal storage tube 21. This rate is the normal television rate, hereinabove designated as n frames per second and N lines per frame. This synchronization generator 32 is, in the figure, shown as being free-running, but it is obviously equally within the ambit of the invention for it to be locked at n frames per second by the synchronizing components contained in the received coarse signal. The coarse and iine signals are now both on an n frames per second, N lines per -frame basis, and these component signals are added together in an ordinary summation amplifier 33 and mixed, in a circuit 34 in accordance with well known electronic techniques, with a standard synchronizing wave-form from the receiver synchronization generator 32. The output video signal 35 thus obtained is a conventional video signal except when there is motion or change in the pictorial subject matter. The diiiiculties introduced by such motion are, in accordance with the invention, substantially avoided by the automatic gain control arrangement described in connection with Fig. of the above-identied copending application, or, alternatively, by the motional correlation system set forth in another copending application, Serial No. 136,106, filed December 30, 1949.

The advantages of the above-described system will be apparent from a closer examination of certain characteristics thereof. The permitted increase in horizontal blurring for the coarse eld can conveniently be designated as It is then readily demonstrable that, if N is the conventional number of scanning lines per frame and N1 is the number of lines per frame for the coarse signal, the required band width for the coarse signal is:

Coarse band== 0 Ito 10%fm) where fm is the maximum video frequency normally transmitted by the system. It can also be readily shown that the fine signal frequency range is given by:

a ci Fine band-(kn fm to n fm) where n is the normal frame repetition rate and m is the reduced repetition frame rate characteristic of this invention and that of the copending application, Serial No. 136,105, filed December 30, 1949. ,y

Although great band width economy can be achieved by making the reduced number of scanning lines N1 very small, 'such a technique im troduces the danger of too coarse a scanning structure, with the consequence that the image will be intolerably degraded. Thus, it has been found convenient in the practice of the invention to allow roughly twice as much vertical overlap of the coarse scanning aperture as in the con ventional television system. This approximate relationship is represented by N -2k This is obviously a reasonable requirement when k is very much smaller than unity, i. e., when the new scanning structure is much coarser than the conventional structure, which is in accordance with the practice of the invention.

An examination of the above relationships with respect to some exemplary values which may be considered to be typical of preferred practice will be valuable. For purposes of illustration, therefore, it is assumed that lc:0.1,

and the maximum video frequency ,tn-:4 megacycles per second. It is then readily seen that, fixing the required frequency bands become:

Coarse band=0 to 80 kilocycles per second, and Fine band=40 to 400 kilocycles per second.

The total required frequency band is thus approximately 400 kilocycles, which for the illustrative values chosen is, as readily as can be shown, a two-to-one economy as compared with the basic band width reduction system disclosed in the copending application, Serial No. 136,105, and approximately a. ten-to-one saving in band width as compared with the conventional television transmission systems now in common use.

It is to be noted that the coarse signal now corresponds (referring to the exemplary values chosen above) to a picture field having about 50 picture elements horizontally and 100 vertically. That is, in addition to the original responsibility for horizontal sharpness as in the copending application, Serial No. 136,105, much of the burden of vertical sharpness has been shifted to the slowly-repeated fine signal, whose required band width is scarcely affected thereby.

It is evident that it is also in accordance with the invention to use the saving resulting from the coarsening of the scanning line structure to improve the horizontal resolution of the coarse field, while maintaining the same band width as required in accordance 'with the techniques and using the apparatus disclosed in the copending application, Serial No. i36,105. In order to illustrate this aspect of the invention, k can conveniently be set at 0.25 and mate to the frequencyvv band requirements of the basic system outlined in the copending application, assuming the same illustrative values. The resulting coarse signal in this example of practice corresponds; however, to a picture field containing 225 picture elements horizontally and 200 vertically. During those times when there is appreciable motion in the televised scene and the coarse field must bear the brunt of the imagery, this 125 by 2Go element arrangement is a more satisfactory one than the 50 by 500 element eld characteristic of the system of the copending application. (ltshould be noted that' a conventional picture field, i. e., one transmitted in accordance with presentr standard American television practice, 525 lines yper field and 4 megacycles per second', has been assumed, for clarity of exposition, to be approximately a 500 by 50() element field.)

In accordance with the invention, the sepai-ation of the coarse and nne components can be* effected by the use of the exemplary arrangement shown in Fig'. 2. In that figure, the coarse image dissector ll is a well-known type of dis.- sector tube, such as, for example, the Philo T. Farnsworth image dissector. (See, e. g., Zworykin and Morton, Television (i940), page. 230 et seq.) In the iine image dissector 42, one aperture t3 is made large, of a size corresponding to that in the coarse dissector, while the other one lli is made much smaller, i. e., approximately the conventional size, and these apertures d3 and 44 are concentric. The electrons passing through the two apertures are amplified by separate electron multipliers lili (large aperture) and tl (small aperture) to yield usable signal outputs d8 and 49, respectively. The relative multiplier gains are so adjusted that the two output signals i8 and its are equal when a uniform density of electrons impinges upon both apertures. These two signals are then fed to a differential amplifier 5lv which yields an output 52 proportional to the difference between the two signals 48 and et, being zero when the two signals are equal. Aln this arrangement, the two apertureV signals substantially cancel each other forvery gradual (i. e., coarse) changes in picturebrightness, irrespecn tive of the direction in the picture along which the changes are taking place. sharp changes in picture brightness, however, the two apertures respond differently, the fine aperture lli faithfully followingv the detail and the coarse aperture 53 following only the average trend. Thus, the output of the differential aperture is Zero for long-pitch variations in brightness and is a proportional representation for short-pitch variations in brightness (within, of course, the resolution capability of the line aperture). it is evident that the action of the two apertures t3 and i4 and the dilerential ampliiier 5l is analogous to that of a high-pass electrical lilter.

In the ne image dissector shown in Fig'.v 3*, which is another exemplary embodiment that can be used in the practice of the invention, the two apertures 6l and E2 are not in fact concentric, but they are disposedV along a. scanning line so that one aperture center traverses any given vertical contour of the picture (electron image) a time T ahead of the other aperture center. In the arrangement as drawn, the output 66 from electron multiplier it (which operates on the signals coming through wide aperture 6l, the rst aperture in time) is delayed by an amount" r in' a For the more Aof the principles of the invention.

delaying means 63, in accordance with techniques well known in the art. The delayed output 6l and the output 64 from an electron multiplier 4'! or narrow (and second in time) aperture 52 are fed to the differential amplifier 5i, just as in the arrangement of Fig. 2. The behavior or' the illustrative arrangement of the ine dissector of Fig. 3 is the same as though the two apertures Si and 62 were actually concentric, since these apertures are made to appear so by the use of the delay line t3.

Still another illustrative arrangement for the separation of the-coarse and fineV detail in accordance with the invention is shown in Fig. 4. The apertures ii and 12 are actually coaxial and are located in different planes. The-signal '56 is simply' the output from a collector le in a conventional inuitiplier 13, whilethe signal ll is the output of a collector '1B in an annular multiplier lli-,5 or? atype which is well known in the electronic art and which can, for example, be or" the general type used. in the RCA Image Orthicon camera tube.

It is to be understood that the above described arrangements are illustrative of the application Numerous other arrangements may be devised by those skilledin the art without' departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What i-s claimed is:

l. A television system comprising means for forming signals representative of the coarse and ne detail componentsor the. pictorial image, said means comprising two image dissector tubes one of which is adapted to generate a signal repre- -sentative of only line detail components and the other is .adapted 'to generate a signal representative of only coarse components of the video informati-on, means for scanning in the ne component image dissector at a fixed number or lines per frame, means for scanning in the coarse component image dissector at a lixed number oi lines per frame, means for transmitting said component signals to a receiving station, means at the receiving station to increase the number of scanning lines per frame ofthe coarse component signal to equal the number of scanning linesI per frame of the line component signal, and means to combine said modified coarse components and said ne components into a complete video signal.

2. A television system comprising means for forming signals representative of the coarse and line detail components of the pictorial image, said means comprising two image dissector tubes one of which is adapted :to generate a signal representative of' only ne detail component-s and the other lis adapted to generate a |signal representative of only coarse components of the video information, means for scanning in .the ne component image dissector at a iixed number of lines per frame, means for scanning in the coarse component image dissector at a lesser number oflines per frame.. means for Itransmitting said coarse components at4 :one repetition rate, means for transmitting said lne components at another, reduced, repetition rate, means at the receiving stati-on to increase the number of scanning lines Iper framev of the. coarse component signal to equal the number of scanning lines, per frame of the line component signal and to increase the repetition rate of the fine component signal to equal'- the repetition rate of the coarse component signal, and means to recombine said modified coarse' components and re'- stored-rate ne components into a complete video signal.

3. A television system comprising means lfor forming signa-ls representative of the coarse and iine detail component-s of the Ipi-ctorial image, said means comprising two image -dissector tubes one of which is adapted to generate signals representative of only ne detail components and the other adapted to generate signals representative of only coarse components of the video information, said image dissector which is `adapted to generate signals representative of only ne detail components including two concentric apertures oi diiiering diameters Iand a differential amplier which is adapted to :operate on sign-als transmitted through said apertures, means `for scanning in the iine component image dissector aft a fixed number of lines per frame, means for scanning in the -coarse component image dissector at a lesser` number of llines per frame, lmeans for transmitting said component signals to a receiving station, means at the receiving station to increase the number of scanning lines `per fname of the coarse component signal to equal the number of scanning 'lines per frame of rthe fine component signal, and means to recombine said modified coarse components and said fine components into a complete video signal.

4. A television system comprising means for forming signals representative of the coarse and fine detail components of `the pictorial image, said means comprising two image dissector tubes one of which is Iadapted to generate signals representative o f only lfine detail components and the other adapted to generate signals representative of only coarse components of the -video information, said image dissector which is adapted to generate signals representative of only fine detail components including two apertures of differing apertures, lmeans to delay the signal transmitted through one of said apertures, and a difrerential ampliiier which operates on said delayed signal and the signal transmitted through the other of said apertures, means for scanning in the iine component image dissector at a xed number of lines per'frame; means lfor scanning in the coarse component image dissector at a lesser number of lines Iper frame, means for transmitting said component signals to a receiving station, means at the receiving station Ito increase the number of scanning lines per frame of the coarse component signal yto equalthe number of scanning ylines per frame of the lfine component signal, and means to recombine said modified coarse components and said ne components into a complete video signal.

5. A television system comprising means for forming signals representative of the coarse and iine detail components of the pictorial image, said means comprising two image dissector tubes one of which is adapted to generate signals representative of only fine detail components and the other adapted .to generate signals representative of only coarse components of the vid-eo information, means for scanning in |the n-e component image dissector at a xed number of lines per frame, said scanning means being controlled by a rst synchronizing signal generator, means for scanning in .the coarse component image dissector at a lesser number of lines per frame, this scanning means being controlled :by a second synchronizing signal generator, means for transmitting sai-d component signals to a receiving station, means at thevreceui-ving station to increase 8 the number of scanning lines per frame of the coarse component signal to equal the number of scanning lines per frame of the ne component signal, and means to recombine said modified coarse components and said ne components into a complete vdeo signal.

6. A television system comprising means for forming signals representative of the coarse and iine detail components of the pictorial image, said means comprising two image dissector Itubes one of which is adapted to generate signals representative of only fine detail components and the other adapted to generate sign-als representative of only coarse components of the video information, means for scanning in `the ne component image dissector at a xed number of lines per frame, means for scanning in the coarse component image dissector at a lesser number of lines per frame, means for transmitting said component signals Ito a receiving station, means `at 'the receiving station to increase the number of scanning lin-es ,per frame of the coarse component signal to 'equal the number of scanning lines per frame of Itne fine component signal, said means including a storage tube device, the recording scan of which is at the reduced number of lines per frame and the pick-up scan of which is at the restored number of lines `per frame, and means to reco-mbine said modified coarse com- .ponents and said ne components into a complete video signal.

7. A .television system comprising means for forming signals representative of Athe coarse and fine detail components of ythe pictorial image, said means comprising two image dissector tubes one of which is adapted to generate signals representative of only iine detail components and the other adapted to genera-te signals representative of only coarse components of the video inyformation, means for scanning in the ne component image dissector at a xed number of lines per frame, means for scanning in the coarse component image dissector at a lesser number of lines per frame, means for transmitting said component signals to a receiving station, means at the receiving station Ito increase the number of scanning lines per frame of the coarse compo nent signal to equal the number of scanning lines per frame of the iine component signal, and means including a storage tube device, the recording scan of which is at the reduced number of lines per frame and the pick-up scan of which is at Ithe restored number of lines per frame, said pick-up scanning `being controlled lby an independent synchronizing signal generator, and means to recom'bine modified coarse components and said iine components into a complete video signal.

ROBERT E. GRAHAM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,273,172 Beers Feb. 17, 1942 2,293,899 Hanson Aug. 25, 1942 2,306,435 Graham Dec. 29, 1942 2,307,728 Mertz Jan. 5, 1943 2,321,611 Moynihan June 15, 1943 2,381,901 Goldsmith Aug. 14, 1945 2,381,902 Goldsmith Aug. 14, 1945 2,460,093 Law N Jan. 25, 1949 A 

